The Real Hero
Whenever anyone tells Samantha how brave she is, her only response is that she isn’t the brave one, her dad is. He’s the real hero. When asked about the whole story, Samantha’s father, Barry, said he knew it needed to be him when his daughter found out she needed a new kidney. Finding out your child has a disease that cannot be cured is a nightmare for any parent. From the moment the family found out Samantha would need a transplant, Barry knew it needed to be him. He saw it as his job as a father to look after her. Aside from that, he felt like it was his right, not a duty or an obligation. In addition, Barry didn’t want Samantha’s mother, husband, or sister to go through the operation.
The Real Hero
Testing
Barry went to a lot of doctor’s appointments prior to the surgery. The first six appointments were to assess if he was generally healthy enough to donate while the others were more technical. He had his heart monitored, tests to check his kidney function, several scans to see which kidney was better to take and lots of blood tests too.
Testing